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Retirement Bass

#121
nostatic said:
Related to the real point of the thread, right now my main criteria is weight. I have to go see my ortho guy about ridiculous back pain today (no sleep last night) and per my chiro/pt a lot of the problem is due to the amount of gigging I've been doing. So a pound here or there saved ends up being a big deal. One reason my MB-2 at around 6lbs is probably my favorite bass to play out. As I get older the weight thing is going to be more of an issue. That actually scares me off Fedora as they don't tend to make light instruments as far as I can tell. It did lead me towards Pete Skjold as he can build them light, and Sadowsky is always on the radar.
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We are kindred spirits. It's all about weight for me these days. Since no one notices if I play a $300 or $3,000 bass, I am going for comfort. Hopefully my Lakland will be OK.

I am debating a Rob Allen MB-2 fretless. I could use it for a lot of my gigs - especially jazz. I'd need something for the more rock/funk stuff...maybe a Rob Allen solid body. :ninja:

I don't want to spend much more than $1,200 for a bass so it has to be used and cheap and light don't often go together.

I wish my jazz would sell so I could make a move on a RA. I may just have to buy it and hope my jazz sells - someday.
 
#122
nostatic said:
Well, no right or wrong answer - just opinions (kinda like basses). But hopefully is an informed one.

Related to the real point of the thread, right now my main criteria is weight. I have to go see my ortho guy about ridiculous back pain today (no sleep last night) and per my chiro/pt a lot of the problem is due to the amount of gigging I've been doing. So a pound here or there saved ends up being a big deal. One reason my MB-2 at around 6lbs is probably my favorite bass to play out. As I get older the weight thing is going to be more of an issue. That actually scares me off Fedora as they don't tend to make light instruments as far as I can tell. It did lead me towards Pete Skjold as he can build them light, and Sadowsky is always on the radar.
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Weight is not a huge issue for me. Although I am older, I am really big and pretty strong too. I also am mainly a bedroom bassist who plays out only 20 times a year.
 
#123
Dr. Cheese said:
Weight is not a huge issue for me. Although I am older, I am really big and pretty strong too. I also am mainly a bedroom bassist who plays out only 20 times a year.
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My problem: will turn 50 this year, while I'm fit (6'1", 185) I have decades of accumulated sports and other injuries including back and shoulder problems (and we won't talk about my knees). This year (2011) I've already done 44 gigs - and that along with my day job which includes travel. Basically work all week at a desk, gig all weekend. Sleep sometimes. By hour 3 of a gig my back/shoulder/hands/wrists are all getting tired. That is one reason I'm picky about the ergos on my instruments wrt string spacing and neck feel, as well as weight. The difference between a 9lb bass and an 8lb bass toward the end of the sunday night when you've done five gigs that weekend (like last weeked) can be huge.
 
#124
nostatic said:
My problem: will turn 50 this year, while I'm fit (6'1", 185) I have decades of accumulated sports and other injuries including back and shoulder problems (and we won't talk about my knees). This year (2011) I've already done 44 gigs - and that along with my day job which includes travel. Basically work all week at a desk, gig all weekend. Sleep sometimes. By hour 3 of a gig my back/shoulder/hands/wrists are all getting tired. That is one reason I'm picky about the ergos on my instruments wrt string spacing and neck feel, as well as weight. The difference between a 9lb bass and an 8lb bass toward the end of the sunday night when you've done five gigs that weekend (like last weeked) can be huge.
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Sounds like my schedule sans the travel.
I gig...A LOT.
And even though my Valenti and Sadowsky are light (as is my PRS 4) I'm still eyeballing basses in the Parker Fly range.
I'd just get a Fly 5 if I could get over that tight spacing.......
 
#125
nostatic said:
My problem: will turn 50 this year,
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We should start a club... The Roaring 50's...

nostatic said:
while I'm fit (6'1", 185) I have decades of accumulated sports and other injuries including back and shoulder problems (and we won't talk about my knees)....
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I've always been very active and in shape, but playing the bass is taking a toll on me. Last year I got "frozen shoulder" a very painful condition. Took about 6 months with a chiropractor to get my mobility back. Still have pain in that shoulder. Now I have a nerve problem with my fretting hand that stems from my where my strap hits my neck according to the Doc. More snap, crackle, pop with Chiropractor.

I'm not complaining, I'm still blessed to be able to play, but it seems like time is starting to creep up on me...
 
#126
I too have a serious back and shoulder problem. I purchased a Skjold that weighed 7.9 pounds, and that has helped me alot. I have other really nice basses but can't play them while standing.
 
#129
Supertanker said:
We should start a club... The Roaring 50's...

I've always been very active and in shape, but playing the bass is taking a toll on me. Last year I got "frozen shoulder" a very painful condition. Took about 6 months with a chiropractor to get my mobility back. Still have pain in that shoulder. Now I have a nerve problem with my fretting hand that stems from my where my strap hits my neck according to the Doc. More snap, crackle, pop with Chiropractor.

I'm not complaining, I'm still blessed to be able to play, but it seems like time is starting to creep up on me...
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I can't believe you guys are doing the 50 thing! I'm sticking at 41 until someone calls me on it.
 
#132
phatbass said:
Alembic Stanley Clarke, but long scale and 5-string.
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Take a picture when you get that. There are very few things that Alembic WON'T do. A small body long scale is one of those things. Neck dive, cliffs of Acapulco style. And with the added weight of the 5th tuner? Good luck w'that

There are a few 4 stringers out there, so you'd have to find a good used one. A 5 string small bodied long scale is like a polka dot unicorn.
 
#133
I alwys thought I'm in the pursuit of the bass I will retire with, not buy it at retirement. I want to play with it And gig on it as much as I can, age with it, relic with it....I found one already (my streamer stage 2) looking or one more to age with me for many years
 
#134
malthumb said:
Take a picture when you get that. There are very few things that Alembic WON'T do. A small body long scale is one of those things. Neck dive, cliffs of Acapulco style. And with the added weight of the 5th tuner? Good luck w'that

There are a few 4 stringers out there, so you'd have to find a good used one. A 5 string small bodied long scale is like a polka dot unicorn.
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I've only seen one of those, and it was actually a medium scale (32") with a small body that my friend Richard Bannister had built in the late 1970s. It was a 4 string of course.
I would have liked that instead of the large body with the pointy spike at the end that's on my Medium Scale Series 1.
 
#135
Roy Vogt said:
I've only seen one of those, and it was actually a medium scale (32") with a small body that my friend Richard Bannister had built in the late 1970s. It was a 4 string of course.
I would have liked that instead of the large body with the pointy spike at the end that's on my Medium Scale Series 1.
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I used to own a small body medium scale (32") Series II. Sold it to Brian Barrett to finance the purchase of "retirement bass", the 5 string Series II I've owned since 2000.

Here's the 1979 small body medium scale Series II

79Series2.jpg
 
#136
Man, I'm pushing 50 too---I got frozen shoulder 2 years ago (said shoulder was once dislocated in a mountain biking accident, and then there was the 20 years of boxing . . .)
LOTS of massage and PT took care of it for me, but then I had a bursitis attack in it this year right before leaving town for a mini-tour! had to go the cortizone(and vodka) route just so I could function . . .).
Anyhow, speaking of dream/retirement basses, the thing that I actually think kicked in my shoulder issue was the 5-6 months I spent playing a Dingwall. I thought it would be my end-all bass, but I'm a little guy, and that 37" just pushed my (damaged) shoulder over the edge I guess. But man, that thing sounded so good. Can't play any 35" scale basses either. Just can't seem to hold them the right way. Maybe it's good--I look pretty shrimpy with one strapped on.

My retirement bass is probably going to be my trusty Jerry Jones Longhorn--short scale, killer tone, lightweight as the day is long . . . .



Supertanker said:
We should start a club... The Roaring 50's...



I've always been very active and in shape, but playing the bass is taking a toll on me. Last year I got "frozen shoulder" a very painful condition. Took about 6 months with a chiropractor to get my mobility back. Still have pain in that shoulder. Now I have a nerve problem with my fretting hand that stems from my where my strap hits my neck according to the Doc. More snap, crackle, pop with Chiropractor.

I'm not complaining, I'm still blessed to be able to play, but it seems like time is starting to creep up on me...
Click to expand...
 

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